September 25/10 18:29 pm - CGC Okays Athlete Arrivals for Delhi

Posted by Editoress on 09/25/10

Support staff for Team Canada will begin moving in to the Athletes Village at the Delhi Commonwealth Games tomorrow, according to Scott Stevenson, Director of Sport for Commonwealth Games Canada (CGC). Barring any unforeseen complications, the first athletes and coaches will arrive in the Village on Monday.

“Work has progressed far enough now that we’re ready to start moving in to the Village,”

said Stevenson, who is leading Canada’s advance team at the Delhi Games. “All of the necessary maintenance and cleaning has been done in enough rooms to accommodate our advance team, some additional support staff arriving tomorrow, and the first wave of athletes and coaches the day after that.”

Stevenson confirmed that emergency equipment and safety procedures have all been verified and tested. He added that work crews have been successful in reducing the amount of standing water around the residence towers. The pools of water were potential breeding grounds for disease-carrying mosquitoes.

“Things are starting to look really good,” Stevenson added. “Other parts of the village, like the Dining Hall and the training facilities, are truly exceptional. The residence towers have been a huge challenge for us, but I’m happy to say they’re finally coming online now too.”

A total of 35 Canadian support staff will move in to the village on Sunday. About 40 athletes and coaches from women’s gymnastics, shooting, table tennis, and men’s field hockey are scheduled to arrive Monday.

CGC President, Dr. Andrew Pipe, emphasized that Canada will continue to be vigorous and vigilant in its efforts to ensure that host organizers provide the necessary resources and supervision to complete the maintenance and cleaning in the remaining suites.

“We need a total of 383 beds, so there’s still considerable work to be done,” stated Dr. Pipe. “We simply cannot risk any reduction in the pace or the quality of the work in the residences we’re occupying. We’ll stay on top of this until the last suite has been cleared by our staff on the ground. To that end, our Chief Executive Officer, Thomas Jones, is leaving Canada today and will be there to support the team in Delhi as of Sunday.”

Stevenson noted that Canadian sport science experts have visited most of the competition venues and that their reports have been positive. “The facilities are definitely world class,” he said. “With the accommodations now coming together, we can finally start to focus more of our energies on the real business at hand, which is helping our athletes achieve best-ever performances here against some really good international competition.”

Canada is sending a team of 400 athletes, coaches and support staff to the Games which take place from October 3 to 14, 2010 in Delhi. Team Canada’s goal is a Top 3 finish in the overall medal count.